Utah, Nevada & Idaho: Snowcock, Cassia Crossbill & Flammulated Owl

Mid-day arrivals in Salt Lake City. During the afternoon we will explore the foothills and canyons of the Wasatch Mountains. At Little Cottonwood Canyon we’ll look for our first target, Black Swift, though it is getting late in the season for them. We’ll encounter American Dipper, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Red-naped Sapsucker, Olive-sided and Hammond’s Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush, MacGillivary’s Warbler, Band-tailed Pigeon, California Quail, Evening Grosbeak, Black-headed Grosbeak, Stellar’s Jay, and Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay. At dusk we begin our nocturnal search for Flammulated Owl and Common Poorwill. Night in Salt Lake City, UT.

We leave Salt Lake City and head to Elko, Nevada (about a 3-hour drive) which we’ll break up with several birding stops along the way. We pass through good shorebird habitat along the salt flats of the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, possibly picking up Baird’s Sandpiper and Snowy Plover. In the Pequop Mountains we’ll expore ridges covered with pinyon-juniper woodlands which host Pinyon Jay, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, Juniper Titmouse, and Gray Flycatcher,.

Late afternoon we’ll bird in the Elko area, exploring rolling sagebrush-covered hills, looking for Sage Thrasher, Brewer’s Sparrow, and other sagebrush inhabitants. A visit to South Fork Reservoir will yield an amazing variety of waders, waterfowl, shorebirds and terns. We’ll retire early to prepare for tomorrow’s early start. Night in Elko, NV.

Today we look for the Himalayan Snowcock. This will require a 3:00am start for the 45-minute drive to Lamoille Canyon in the heart of the Ruby Mountains. Our hike begins in pre-dawn darkness, ascending about 2,000 feet along a narrow path for 2 miles. We’ll eat breakfast snacks at the trailhead and along the way. We aim to reach Island Lake and the cirque by daybreak for the best chance to see our target. Most of the morning will be spent in the cirque scanning towering rocky cliffsides for Himalayan Snowcock and Black Rosy-Finch, and enjoying the many other birds and spectacular scenery of this alpine area. Pika and Mountain Goat are often seen in the area. Golden Eagles may be soaring in the distance. We’ll descend back to the trailhead in the late morning, birding along the way for Rufous and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Dusky Flycatcher, Mountain Bluebirds, and possible Dusky Grouse. On our way back to town we’ll stop at the mouth of the canyon, where a grove of large cottonwoods is home to a colony of Lewis’s Woodpeckers. Chukar, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Green-tailed Towhee, and Lazuli Bunting are possible along the way.

After lunch we drive northwards into Idaho. We’ll spot a variety of raptors along the way including Ferruginous Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Golden Eagle, and sometimes Prairie Falcon. Time permitting, we’ll make our first search for Cassia Crossbill. Recently split from Red Crossbill, Cassia’s Crossbill is found only in the South Hills of southern Idaho. While most crossbills are nomadic, Cassia’s are sedentary, residing within lodgepole pine forests that are notably absent of red squirrels. They share habitat with Western Wood-Pewee, Mountain Chickadee, Pine Siskin, Western Tanager, MacGillivray’s Warbler, and western specialties. Night in Twin Falls, ID.

Depending upon our success on the previous afternoon, our itinerary is flexible this morning. We may return to the South Hills for Cassia Crossbill, or we’ll search nearby grasslands for Gray Partridge and other new trip birds. Afterwards, we return to Utah where we will visit Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. This is perhaps Utah’s most famous birding location. Huge numbers of shorebirds and waterfowl congregate at this time of year. A lot depends upon water levels, but we should come across Western and Clark’s Grebe’s, American White Pelicans, California Gulls, Cinnamon Teal, White-faced Ibis, Long-billed Dowitchers, Marbled Godwits, Solitary Sandpipers, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilts, Caspian and Forster’s Terns, Marsh Wrens, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Night in Layton, UT.

We spend our final morning at Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Along the edge of this vast inland sea we’ll witness one of the West’s greatest migratory spectacles; where hundreds-of-thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes, Red-necked Phalaropes, and Eared Grebes congregate during the peak of migration! Along the 7-mile causeway that connects the island and mainland, we’ll stop to watch Franklin’s Gulls and Long-billed Curlews ceaselessly chasing millions of brine flies along the water’s edge. On the island, we’ll explore different areas for Black-chinned Hummingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Burrowing Owl, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Western Meadowlark, Lark Sparrow, Wilson’s Warbler, and Chukar. The island also hosts populations of Bison, Pronghorn, Mule Deer, Coyote, and many species of snakes and butterflies. The trip ends mid-day at the Salt Lake City Airport.